Mondelez 3Q profit jumps 81 percent

DEERFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Mondelez International Inc. served up an 81 percent jump in third-quarter profit as sales of its snack food improved in emerging markets.

The Deerfield, Illinois-based company reported profit of $992 million, or 65 cents per share. That's up from $548 million, or 35 cents per share. When one-time gains and costs are excluded, Mondelez earned 57 cents per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations for the maker of Oreo cookies, Cadbury chocolate and Trident gum. The eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research expected adjusted earnings of 54 cents per share.

"We're making good progress on many of our key strategic initiatives and remain confident in our ability to deliver long-term, sustainable growth on both the top and bottom lines," CEO Irene Rosenfeld said.

Mondelez said its revenue improved 2 percent to $6.53 billion in the period, which surpassed the $6.46 billion that analysts predicted.

Rosenfeld plans to retire in November. She will be replaced by Dirk Van de Put, who was president and CEO of McCain Foods.

Mondelez shares were up almost 5 percent in after-hours trading following the release of the earnings report.

Through the end of regular-session trading Monday, they are down 11 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed 15 percent.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MDLZ at https://www.zacks.com/ap/MDLZ